The set includes the four original Young Avengers characters with their original costumes and code names, Patriot, Asgardian, Iron Lad, and Hulkling. It does not, much to the girls' disappointment, include any of the later additions such as Giant Girl and Kate/Hawkeye (are they really going to keep calling her Hawkeye? that's just not right!). The kids are not happy about the lack of female heroes and hope that they'll come out eventually, although I don't suppose I'd hold my breath on that one.
Asgardian
The kids thought this one looked the best. Very slender (makes sense for a younger hero), flexible, posable, looks good. Comes with a staff and a bag. His cape looks very good, which surprised me a bit, but tends to shift around some, a potential playability problem but nothing major. Great face, well detailed.
Hulkling
Good flexibility despite being so muscular. No mobility issues I've been able to find. Playable. Good design. The face is excellent.
Iron Lad
The least favored figure of this set, primarily because of playability issues--he doesn't have that extendable shoulder that most action figures do these days. The armor looks decent apart from the bands at the wrist and ankle, which don't. He also lacks full waist movement and can only turn a bit in either direction because the armor gets in the way. Finally, as far as I can tell, the toes are stuck--the joint is there but shows no sign of moving, and I don't want to take a chance on breaking them off so I haven't tested it much.
Patriot
Voted most playable by my daughters, he's well articulated and his joints are neither too loose nor too tight. He's slender (as a teenager) but muscular (therefore not easily broken). Very posable. Comes with a plastic shield.
2 comments:
Thank you for considering the playability aspect of action figures! Too often that's overlooked. I do understand the market is overwhelmingly for collectors, but as I always say, comic toys oughta be fun, too.
:) With so few kids buying comics these days, I suppose it's not all that surprising that the focus is on collectibles.
I think the cartoon-based toys such as the Justice League ones may be more aimed at kids (although I've seen them, and at least a few years ago the playability was marginal--very poor articulation particularly in Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl!).
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